During service lifetime, all airplanes are subject to regular inspections. The inspections are necessary maintain the aircraft in flight readiness. Flight readiness includes meeting safety guidelines, which are critical. In addition, flight readiness includes detecting and repairing minor problems that can lead to larger problems. In addition, during initial assembly or repair of an aircraft, defects can be discovered parts or sub-assemblies.
All in-service aircrafts are subject to damages such as impacts, lightning strikes, corrosion, fatigue cracks, etc, during normal operation. When a problem is identified that requires repair or replacement or a part or subassembly, the time required to obtain a replacement part or subassembly is of utmost importance. When an aircraft is being assembled, delays in obtaining a replacement part or subassembly can lead to production delays. Such delays have the potential to damage the reputation and profitability of a manufacturer. Customers expect orders to be filled on time and per contract terms.
In the case of in-service aircraft, the criticality of prompt part or subassembly replacement is enhanced. Out of service aircraft cost airlines valuable service hours. Out of service aircraft can also cause fleet scheduling difficulties. Service periods for aircraft are therefore ideally as short as possible.
Unfortunately, the identification of a defective part or subassembly is only an initial step. The inspection process itself is time-consuming. Exacerbating the potential time delays is the process of precisely identifying (such as by part number or part number in a manner sufficient to order replacement) and then ordering a correctly identified part or subassembly. Despite the sophistication of inspection equipment, e.g., non-destructive testing equipment, and the sophistication of modern airplane design and assembly, which includes computer aided designs and guidance, the parts order process remains basic and cumbersome in practice. Skilled technicians often have to obtain identifying information from a part, and then use an order form (paper or electronic, such as through a web or other computer interface) to order parts. Research may also be required to identify the part. The order forms for obtaining parts can require part number information and precise descriptions of parts. Misidentifications or inaccurate descriptions can result in incorrect part or assemblies being ordered, or additional communications to resolve problems identified upon review and evaluation of an order for a particular part or subassembly
In the case of in-service aircraft, the part ordering process can be frustrating and expensive in terms of hours worked on both a customer and supplier side. In common instances, the customer is an airline that has an aircraft with a damage report and the supplier is an aircraft manufacturer or an aircraft part manufacturer or supplier. Typically, the customer will research and complete a damage report form. This form may be transmitted electronically, but is often communicated in some other form such as a hard copy form or via a telephone report to a customer service representative at the supplier. The reception of a damage report creates a report evaluation process on the supplier side. In the typical case where the supplier is an aircraft manufacturer and the customer an airline, the airline often uses its own damage report form. When presented to the aircraft manufacturer with the template of the airline, the damage reports often lack clarity and/or information necessary for the aircraft manufacture to act. When a report is incomplete or includes mistakes, then this creates a cycle of communication on the supplier side as well as with the customer. Delays result as employee work hours are consumed.
The aircraft industry is much more complex than almost any other industry. While there have been many computer based systems for ordering parts or ordering goods in general, the computer based systems for ordering parts or ordering goods in general are inapplicable to airplane inspection and part ordering. As a result, airline inspection teams and aircraft manufacturers still use highly cumbersome, slow and inefficient processes to achieve parts ordering.
The parts order process related to aircraft remains cumbersome and inefficient despite the existence of detailed computer specifications for aircraft and despite computer aided methods for the damage inspection of aircraft.
WO 2012172320 discloses computer implemented methods for inspection of aircraft components. The methods and systems described in that document aid on-going maintenance checks for maintenance programs approved and overseen by airworthiness bodies such as the Federal Aviation Administration (in the US), Transport Canada or the European Aviation Safety Agency. The systems and methods concern horoscope inspections and image data is captured during an inspection. The horoscope includes interfaces to guide the inspection, and the obtained data is compared to reference data to aid in the assessment of the part. Based upon the comparison, an inspector may be prompted to conduct additional tasks. The disclosed system aids in actual inspection, but does not provide any improvement with respect to the ordering of parts or subassemblies.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,401,729 discloses a diagnostic tool for aircraft. The computer aided system provides an accessible aircraft repair manual on a central database. The database also includes information about aircraft models in digital form. A portable computer device, such as a tablet, can access the manual and aircraft information. A visual display can be provided in the computer device to aid in the collection of data by aiding in the selection of a part being identified and in the acquisition about damage data concerning the part. The company receiving the data, such as an airline company, uses the information to determine whether the information indicates and an aircraft is airworthy or of it should be grounded. The system aids in a quick determination of airworthiness and can also update damage records of the airline company or manufacturer. This provides a powerful tool for onsite aircraft airworthiness inspections and records collection.
EP 1280316 discloses an electronic operations and maintenance log system for aircraft. The system provides an aircraft operators forms in electronic versions to a portable device. Devices can be used to collect data from multiple users, and menus help a skilled used to identify possible faults with a part. The part is identified from a part code and use of drill down menus that are used to find a list of faults associate with the parts. The system provides an interface to the database for parts ordering based upon parts codes, to aid a part ordering process. This approach provides a user access to server records and also involves a cumbersome process for drilling through menus based upon part codes and descriptions.
US 2012/0306666 discloses an aircraft part control system that is an aid to the assembly of aircraft. With the system, an operator using a mobile device is a provided aid through the mobile device in locating a part necessary for an assembly procedure during the assembly of an aircraft. A sensor system in the mobile device notifies the user when the user is in a zone including the location of the part. This system speeds assembly by guiding a user to the storage location for the part. The system does not concern the ordering of replacement parts.